Last week Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Terry A. Green formally invalidated a 2006 settlement between the city of Los Angeles and two companies, CBS Outdoor and Clear Channel Outdoor, that granted them special rights to convert as many as 840 billboards to a digital format. The settlement was negotiated by former City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo after the two companies sued the city over its billboard regulations.
Summit Media, another billboard company, challenged the settlement last year, arguing it was illegal because the city allowed the companies to make sign changes barred under city law. Green agreed with Summit, and found that the city acted beyond the scope of its authority when it allowed the two companies to convert their conventional wood-and-vinyl signs to the bright digital signs that have infuriated neighborhood groups and prompted complaints from drivers.
Summit had asked Green to invalidate all the permits issued to the companies as a result of the settlement, but Green said that revocation of permits was an administrative issue for the city.
Comments